Red Wings score 3 in 3rd, hand Predators 5th straight loss to start season

The Nashville Predators remained winless when they lost for the fifth straight time to begin the season, 5-2 against the Detroit Red Wings at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Saturday.

Steven Stamkos scored his first goal with Nashville (0-5-0), which has been outscored 23-10 and lost five straight games to start a season for the first time in history. Juuse Saros made 19 saves.

"We've been a little inconsistent," Stamkos said. "We show it in spurts and it looks great, and then we don't and it isn't. It is tough to win in this league if you aren't competing for the full 60 minutes."

Andrew Copp scored twice, and Alex Lyon made 37 saves for the Red Wings (2-3-0), who have gotten each of their wins this season against Nashville, including 3-0 in Detroit on Oct. 12.

"They are obviously a desperate team, so we came in desperate ourselves," Lyon said. "This is a tough place to win on the road, because they are really talented."

Vladimir Tarasenko, Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson scored for the Red Wings, who scored three times in the third period despite being outshot 16-7.

"We were big in our zone, sensing where to get pucks out of the zone and where to block shots," Copp said. "It was good to right the ship a little bit."

Luke Schenn, who was honored before the game for his 1,000th NHL game, which came on Thursday, gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 8:48 of the first period with a shot from just above the point.

Colton Sissons appeared to make it 2-0 at 10:57, putting in a rebound, but the Red Wings used a coach's challenge for offside and the call on the ice was overturned.

"That was huge," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "We've lost two in a row, so we are a little fragile. Going down 2-0 in this environment would have been tough."

Tarasenko tied the game at 13:26, scoring in front off a pass from Jonatan Berggren. Marco Kasper got the secondary assist for his first NHL point in his second game, and first since April 2, 2023.

"He plays with a lot of grit and he made a few little plays here and there," Copp said of Kasper. "He's going to be a good player for a long time."

Larkin made it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 3:17 of the second period, off a pass from Alex DeBrincat.

"I thought we had really positive energy compared to our last two games," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "I just think the frustration took over in the second period."

Nashville had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:34 spanning the second and third periods. Lyon robbed Stamkos with the shaft of his stick late in the second period, but Stamkos made it 2-2 at 32 seconds of the third with a power-play goal.

Copp broke the tie for a 3-2 lead at 3:39, deflecting in Joe Veleno's pass with his skate.

Edvinsson scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-2 at 18:43, and Copp got his second of the game at 19:18 with Saros still on the bench for an extra attacker.

"It's extremely frustrating," Nashville forward Ryan O'Reilly said. "… It's the little mistakes that are killing us. It's giveaways or losing face-offs, those are the kinds of things that are making the difference right now that has to be better."

NOTES: Nashville began the 2002-03 season with four straight losses followed by a tie and began that season seven games without a win. … Stamkos scored his 24th goal against the Red Wings, tying him with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the lead among active players. It was also his 215th power-play goal, tying Joe Nieuwendyk for 13th place all-time. … Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman became the sixth person in NHL history with at least 1,000 games as a GM and 1,000 games as a player, joining Bobby Clarke, Bob Gainey, Bob Murray, Bob Pulford and Doug Wilson.